Shloka 20
ऋषिसमागमः — युधिष्ठिरस्य शोकवर्णनम्
Sage Assembly and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Articulation of Grief
आश्रयो धार्तराष्ट्राणां मानी तीक्षणपराक्रम: । अमर्षी नित्यसंरम्भी क्षेप्तास्माकं रणे रणे
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | āśrayo dhārtarāṣṭrāṇāṁ mānī tīkṣṇaparākramaḥ | amarṣī nityasaṁrambhī kṣeptāsmākaṁ raṇe raṇe |
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Er war die wichtigste Stütze der Söhne Dhṛtarāṣṭras—stolz, von rasiermesserscharfer Tapferkeit, unfähig, Kränkung zu ertragen, und stets zum Aufflammen bereit. Schlacht um Schlacht bedrängte er uns, schleuderte Waffen wie auch schneidende Worte. Dieser Krieger, ohnegleichen in der Welt und löwengleich auf dem Feld, gilt als unser älterer Bruder—Kuntīs Sohn, heimlich geboren: Karṇa.“
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how unchecked pride and perpetual anger can make a person formidable yet ethically dangerous; it also frames Karṇa’s power within a tragic moral context—his loyalty to the Kauravas and hostility toward his own brothers complicate simple judgments of virtue and vice.
Yudhiṣṭhira is describing Karṇa as the chief pillar of the Kauravas—proud, fierce, and constantly aggressive toward the Pāṇḍavas in every conflict—while acknowledging the painful report that Karṇa is actually their elder brother, Kuntī’s son born in secrecy.